Incubator.



PATENTED MAY 16, 1905.

J. M. DAY.-

INGUBATOR...

APPLIOATION FILED SEPT. 21,1903.

2 SHBETSSHEET 1.

YigFL No. 789,719. PATENTED MAY 16, 1905. J. M. DAY.

INGUBATOR.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 21,1903.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

I-atented May 16, 1905.

PATENT JOHN M. DAY, OF LINCOLN, NEBRASKA.

INCUBATOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 789,719, dated May 16, 1905.

Application filed September 21, 1903. Serial No. 174,056.

make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to improvements in incubators.

The principal object of this invention is to provide a simple and inexpensive incubator which can be uniformly heated ata reasonable cost and which will furnish to the eggs hatching therein an abundance of fresh air with means of controlling the circulation of the same through the egg-chamber, so as to control the temperature of the eggs and the evaporation of the same.

The invention consists in the construction, arrangement, and combination of parts, as hereinafter set forth, pointed out in my claims, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a horizontal sectional top view of the incubator-casing and contents on line w of Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional front view of an incubator constructed according to my invention cut through the middle, showing the forms and relative positions of the operative parts, while Fig. 3 is a perspective view of my incubator as it appears when complete.

Like letters of reference designate corresponding parts in all the figures of the drawings.

a, a, a and a designate the left side, top, bottom, and right side, respectively, of the casing, which is constructed as shown in the drawings, but may be constructed in any suitable manner so as to make it impervious to air and prevent the escape of heat from within the casing. Inside this casing near the bottom is arranged a receptacle or tray 5, with a bottom of wire-cloth or other coarse porous fabric upon which the eggs are placed in hatching disposed in such a manner that it may be readily removed to facilitate caring for the eggs. Some distance above this receptacle is secured a metal diaphragm 0. (Shown on line no of Fig. 2 and the outlines of which are shown in Fig. 1.) This diaphragm is cut out at the corners, leaving the openings 2?, t, 25 and t (Shown in Fig. 1.) Upon this diaphragm is secured a circle of asbestos paper or other suitable material q for the purpose of insulation.

Near the bottom of the casing is drawn a screen 0, composed of heavy woolen or felt cloth, underneath the center of which and some little distance above the floor is secured a small circular diaphragm 0*, composed of asbestos paper or other suitable material. Attached to the side of the casing is the drum j, (shown in Figs. 2 and 3,) with a pipe 1) leading from the side of the top of said drum through the side wall of said casing and terminating near the center of said casing above the top of the diaphragm c and over the insulation q. A similar pipe 8, beginning in the center of the bottom of the casing directly under the diaphragm 0, extending downward and to the right, is connected with the lower part of the drum f. This drum 7' and the pipes p and s are covered with asbestos paper or other suitable material for the purpose of insulation. This drum is open at the bottom to admit of the free entrance and escape of air, and there is an opening a in the top covered by a damper 0, suspended on a lever g, balanced by a weight w on the fulcrum 4;, so that the damper 0 will rest lightly over the opening a. The set-screw a being threaded in the lever 9, so that it may be turned upward or downward at will, is used for the purpose of regulating the temperature in the hatching-chamber. A tube a, secured to the top of the incubator, passes downward through said top and through the diaphragm e, and suspended thereto is a small keeper y, in which keeper is set the thermostat-disk cl, having a small cup-shaped receptacle in the top thereof into which drops the wire f, while the upper end of the wire f is inserted in a small cavity in the lower end of the set-screwa.

On the inside of the drum 1' is situated a thin metal drum Zr, so disposed that the periphery of the drum 7b is parallel with, adjacent to, but not touching the inside of the drum 1'. From the top of the drum 7c rises an outlet-tube m, which passes through the top of the drum is. Suspended on the inside of the drum Z: are two flat circular-shaped disks Z and Z, suspended by a wire from the top of said drum, which disks are somewhat smaller in diameter than the diameter of the drum 7s and are disposed in said drum is in such a manner that the periphery of said disks will be equidistant from the inside wall of said drum 71: at all points. The disk Z is disposed in said drum at a point on a level with or slightly above the point where the pipe 8 enters the drum 7', while the disk Z is placed about on a level with the egg-tray b. The

lamp h is connected with the lower part of the drum A), which forms a flue for said lamp, the lower part of said drum being received by the burner 72 attached to said lamp, and the lamp being suspended and held in place by the wires and t", attached to the lower part of the drum 7'. It will thus be seen that when the lamp h is lighted the heat from the flame rises and comes in contact with the disk Z, where it is deflected to the side walls of the drum 70, passing upward close to the side walls of the drum in until it passes the disk Z, after which the vitiated air, having thrown off the greater portion of the heat, passes outward through the tube 127. and escapes. In the meantime the heat being thrown off through the surface of the drum 70 from a point nearly opposite the diskZ to a point nearly opposite the disk Z, between the drums j and it, rises and passes into the upper part of the incubator casing through the pipe 19 and is discharged into the upper part of the casing near the center. The insulation q prevents the excessive heat in the center above the diaphragm being radiated through the diaphragm e to the regulating disk, while the diaphragm causes the heated air to be deflected and passed downward near the side walls and corner of the casing through the openings 2?, t, 6 and 29, where it filters slowly through the bottom of the tray?) about the eggs, while the screen 0 prevents the too-rapid evaporation of the eggs by reason of the fact that it difluses the air about the eggs, thus preventing drafts, and at the same time causes an increase in the tension of the air surrounding the eggs, while the diaphragm rcauses the air passing through the screen 0 to be drawn off through the pipe 8 equally from all directions instead of being drawn through in a current opposite the opening.

It will be seen that when the most intensely heated air, which is being thrown oif below the level of the screen, is forced through the pipe 19 without interruption the tension of the air above the screen 0 is increased, preventing the excessive evaporation of the eggs, which would otherwise occur by reason of the increased temperature. In colder weather a greater amount of warm air must necessarily pass through the hatching-chamber than in warmer weather, and this increased flow of air would under ordinary circumstances increase the evaporation of the eggs. With an unrestrained ingress and a properly-restrained egress of the air the tension of the air about the hatching eggs will be increased as the flow of air increases, and this increase tension will to a large extent counteract tie otherwise evil effects of the more rapidly moving air, and the evaporation will continue approximately uniform. The heavier gases thrown off by the hatching eggs being heavier than the air fall upon the screen are forced through and pass downward with the air through the pipe 8, where they come in contact with the heated surface of the drum is, where the air is purified and rises and passes back into the casing, the gases which are heavier meantime falling and escaping, while fresh air rises through the opening between drums jand is to take their place.

The regulating device is such as is in common use for such purposes and forms no part of my present invention, but is shown solely for the purpose of illustrating the manner in which the heat is controlled in the casing. The set-screw u of the regulator is adjusted so that the wire f will press upward against it and raise the damper 0 when the heat in the incubating-chamber becomes excessive in the slightest. degree. When the damper 0 rises, as is shown in Fig. 3, the heated air between the drums j and 7c rises and passes outward through the outlet 77., while the cool air from below rises to take its place, thus preventing the heat in the incubating-chamber from becoming sufficiently excessive to injure the hatching eggs.

Having thus fully described my invention and the construction and operation of the same, what I claim to be new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is the following:

1. In an incubator the combination of a casing, a hot-air drum adjacent to said casing, a hot-air pipe connected with said drum, extending through the side wall of said casing near its top, an opening out of the top of said hot-air drum, a pipe extending out of the bottom of said casing connected with said hotair drum, a second hot-air drum inside of said first-mentioned drum, a tube connected with said inside drum, extending through the wall or top of the outside'drum, a deflecting disk or disks so disposed in said inside drum that the periphery of said disk or disks approaches the side wall of said drum equally distant at all points, and means for connecting a lamp to said inside drum, substantially as described.

2. In an incubator the combination of a casing, means of supplying heated air in the upper part of said casing, an egg-receptacle in the lower part ofsaid casing, a deflecting-diaphragm arranged horizontally inside said casing between said heat-supply and said egg-receptacle, an opening in the bottom of said casing, a screen arranged near the bottom of said casing between said egg-receptacle and said opening in the bottom of said casing, and a deflectingdiaphragm near to and above said opening in the bottom of said casing, substantially as described.

3. In an incubator, the combination of a casing, a hot-air drum connected by means of a pipe With the upper part of said casing, an outlet-opening at or near the top of said drum, a smaller drum inside said first-mentioned drum, a tube connected with said inside drum extending through the top of said outside drum, a disk or disks smaller in diameter than the diameter of said inside drum so arranged in said inside drum that the periphery of said disk or disks Will approach the inside wall of said inside drum equidistant at all points, a

pipe extending out of the bottom of said casing connected With said outside drum, an eggreceptacle in said casing, a deflecting-diaphragm disposed between said egg-receptacle and first-mentioned pipe, a porous screen arranged in the bottom of said casing underneath said egg-receptacle, and a diaphragm larger than the opening in the bottom of said casing arranged over and above said opening, and means of controlling the heat in said casing, substantially as described.

l/Vitness my hand this 16th day of September, A. I). 1903.

JOHN M. DAY.

Witnesses:

W. E. J AKWAY, S. H. Hon. 

